Automatic valve for steam apparatus.



J. L. PITTS & J. E. G. MONTGOMERY. AUTOMATIC VALVE FOR STEAM APPARATUS.APPLIGATION FILED APR.25,1910. 1,@O2,252, Patented'Sept. 5, 1911.

13g grue'nkoui -1 4 1. a A 1 z Wumfl-Aezl/Aayr. 6 96 m UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

JAMES LOGAN IT'rs, OE m RoHANTvrLL AND JOHN E. e. MONTGOMERY, or CAMDEN,NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOBS T0 WARREN wEEs'rER & COMPANY, A CORPORATION OE NEWJERSEY.

AUTOMATIC VALVE FOR STEAM APPARATUS.

Patented Sept. 5, 1911.

Application filed April 25, 1910. Serial No. 557,416.

United States, and a resident of Camden,-

county of Camden, State of New Jersey, have invented an Improvement inAutomatic Valves for Steam Apparatus, of whlch the following is aspecification.

Our invention has reference to automatic valves for steam apparatus andconsists of certain improvements which are fully set out in thefollowing specification and shown in the accompanying drawing whichforms a part thereof.

The object of our invention is to provlde an inexpensive and efficientcheck valve for use in steam heating and other steam circulatingapparatus, for preventing a back flow of the water of condensation,vapor and air, if from any cause a reversal in the differential ofpressure should occur in the apparatus.

More specifically, our object is to employ the clreck valve device inthe'outlet-side of a return valve for the discharge side of theradiators, whereby the abnormal creation of a partial vacuum within theradiators will not be permitted to draw water, vapor and air from thereturn pipe into the radiators. -Our object is further, to employ theimprovement in a return pipe or a steam main to normally permit freeflow of the water, steam, air and vapor in said pipe or main in onedirection, but prevent the flow in the other direction when a conditionof partial vacuum or reduced pressure is set up in the pipe or mainbetween the automatic device embodying our invention and the source ofsteam, air or water supply to said pipe or main.

Our invention consists of certain features of construction comprehendingacontracted passage for the water, vapor and air in one direction,combined with a light sheet metal Referring to the drawings Figure l isa sectional elevation of a return valve for a steam heatingsystemembodying in its structure our improvements; Fig. 2 is a sectionalelevation of the valve seat having our improvements applied -theretoremoved from the valve s ructure shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectionalelevation corres onding to Fig. 2 showing a modified form ot ourinvention; Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation of our invention for use as acoupling in a steam or return pipe; and Fig. 5 is a diagrammaticelevation showing a vacuum system of steam heating with our invent-ionapplied thereto.

it represents radiators, T the return pipes, and V the vacuum pump.Steam may be supplied to the radiators in any suitable way. The air andwater of condensation are drawn out of the radiators into the returnpipe T under the action of the vacuum pump V; and in the escape of saidair and water of condensation from the radiators, they pass throughautomatic return valves 2 which, while permitting the free passage ofwater and air, restricts the escape of the steam. One for i of thesereturn valves is shown in Fig. 1 with our-present invention appliedthereto.

Referring to Fig. 1, the body 2 is provided wit-h air inlet 3 and anoutlet 4 and arranged above the outlet is a valve seat bushing 5 whichis secured in place and provided with the escape orifice 6 having anannular seat 7 preferably of rubber composition. 'A bonnet 11 fits uponthe top of the body 2 and is provided with a central screw threadedguide stem 10 and a concentrio apron 11 forming a float chamber. A float9 is arranged within the float chamber and guided upon thescrew-threaded guide stem 10. This float is provided on its lower endwith a valve piece 8 seating upon the seat 7 This construction ofautomatic return valve is well knowit'and in operation, normally keepsthe valve seat closed below the water level, while permitting the air tobe drawn into the return pipe by passing between the stem 10: and theguide surface of the float. Should steam attempt to pass, it will becondensed in the ca illary space formed between the stem and oat andseal the same.

Secured to the lower part of the valve seat bushing is a U-shaped wire15, one leg of which extends up into a hole 16 bored in the under partof the bushing and .sweated therein or drawn in and held by friction andthe other leg 17 of which is turned upward centrally with'the orifice 6,in the bushing but terminating at some distance 'below the same. Looselysupported upon the upper .end of this leg 17 is an inverted cone valveing of the automatic valve and which, while offering no obstruction tothe free discharge.

of water, scale and dirt through the orifice,

will rise to seat upon the said orifice and sealgit to prevent any backflow of water, vapor and air from the return pipe into the valve bodyand thence to the radiator. We have shown the cone check valve piece inan upright position, but it will be understood a that it may take anyposition so long as it is in condition to lift and automatically sealthe orificeyin other words, the stem 14 may normally lean against theside wall of the orifice 6 and when the vacuum in the radiator takesplace the valve piece 13 will in using centralize itself. To make thedevicesensitive and responsive, it should be made very light in weightand very free to move.

' The construction above described fulfils these requirements and thedevice is very effective in'use. V

While it is desirable to employ the cone shaped check valve piece 13, wemay employ a construction as shown in Fig. 3 in which the valve piece 13is made like an inverted .cylindrical box with the lid removed andguided by three or more wires 15 which extend down from the bottom ofthe seat bushing 5 and bend inward at their lower ends to limit thedownward movement of the check valve piece 13 In both this constructionand that shown in Fig. 2 the check valve piece is made of light invertedcup shaped form the upper part of which acts as a valve to seat on thelower edge of the orifice 6 in the bushing and in both the supports forthe valve piece are wires secured in-the lower face of the bushing toone side ofits orifice and bent inwardly under the valve piece. It isevident that the inner ends of these guide wires 15 may be extended upinto the valve piece 13 to a greater or less extent as desired. By theuse of this simple means for holding the valve in place it is evidentthat the valve piece may be readily removed when necessary by simplybending the wire support to liberate the valve piece and when thetrouble has been removed the valve piece may be replaced and thesupporting and guide wire bent back into position. As these guide wiresdo not interfere with the seating of 'the valve piece upon the bushingit is evident that no great care is necessary in their adjustment,thereby securing economy construction, freedom of action of the valvepiece and capacity for easy repair.

While we have so far described our invention as incorporated with thereturn valve on the radiator, we also employ it in the return piping asindicated at 2 in Fig. 5 and in Fig. 4. In this case we form thecoupling 2 with the inlet 3 and outlet 4 and an intermediate partitionhaving an orifice 6 through'which the water, air and vapor pass, thesaid partition corresponding to the bushing 5 of Fig. 1. The check valvepiece 13 and its supporting wire 15, is the same as in Fig. 2 or may bemade as. in F ig, 3. The operation of our invention prevents back flowin the pipe'in this case just as it prevents back flow in the returnvalve from the pipe in Fig. 1.

While we have shown the bushing 5 as made separate from the body it isevident that the thoroughfare or orifice 6 may be in the body itself asindicated in Fig. 4 and hence, while the bushing being removable,

is a convenient way of removing the seat and check valve, it is when inuse aportionof the body of the fitting and holds the wire support 15 asfirmly to the body as if 7 directly secured to the outer body 2 itself.'

While we have shownv our invention as applied to a vacuum system ofsteam heating, it is not restricted to such use, but may be employed inany pipe or valve in which a reversal of the differential in pressure isliable to occur with resulting reversal in .direction of How of thecontents.

The particular shape employed enables us to make the check valve pieceof exceedingly light material while maintaining the requiredv strengthand also permits the device to be stamped or drawn from sheet metal andvery accurately at a nominal cost. While we have shown our invention inthe forms which we have found suitable for the particular uses abovestated, we do not restrict ourselves to the minor details as these maybe modified without departing from the spirit of the invention.

' Having now described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is i 4 1. .In a steam fitting, the combinationof a body having inlet and outlet ports separated by a transversepartition provided with a central orifice through it, a check valveadapted to seat upon the discharge side of the orifice and consisting ofa cup shaped piece of very light weight having its closed end presentedto the orifice, and a support for the cup shaped check valve piececonsisting of a wire fastened into the transverse partition to one sideof its orifice valve piece to from the orifice.

2. 'In a steam fitting, the combination of abody having inlet and outletports separated by a transverse partition provided with an orificethrough it, a check valve arranged in the outlet port and adapted toseatupon the under or discharge side of the orifice and consisting of a cupshaped piece of very light weight and of much less diameter than thediameter of the outlet port having its closed end presented to theorifice, a support for the cup-shaped check valve piece consisting of awire fastened into the transverse partition its orifice and valve andbent inward over the open end of the valve piece and under the same tolimit its movement by gravity.

away from the orifice.

3. In a steam fitting, the combination of a body having inlet and outletports and a thoroughfare through it, a conical inverted cup shaped checkvalve piece of very light weight arranged to close the thoroughfare frombelow, and a bent wire support for the check valve secured to thefitting to one side of the thoroughfare and bent inwardly under and thenupward into 'the opening in the under part of the conical check valve tosupport it inoperative position relative to the thoroughfare. 4. In asteam fitting, body having inlet and outlet ports and a thoroughfarethrough .it, a conical check valve piecearranged to close the thoroughfare from below and having a conical recess in its bottom, and a bentwire support for to the fitting to one side of the thoroughfare and bentinwardly under and then upward into'the conical opening in the underpart of the conical check valve to support it in position theconstruction being such that when the check valve is raised to closethethoroughfare it is out of contact with wire support.

limit its movement away to one side of r and under the sheet metal belowthe bushing.

the combination of a 5; In a steam fitting, the combination of a bodyhaving inlet and outlet ports and a thoroughfare through it, a conicalcheck valve piece'arranged to close the-thoroughfare from below andhaving an upwardly extending stem very loosely fitting into thethoroughfare and a recessed under part, and a bent wire support for thecheck valve secured to the fitting to one side of the thoroughfare andbent inwardly under and then upward into the recess in the under part ofthe conical check valve to support 1t in position. 6. In a steamfitting, the combination of a bushing having a central orifice, with aninverted cup-shaped sheet metal check valve arranged below the orifice,and a wire secured to the bushing to one side of the orifice and checkvalve and bent downward loosely guide it and support it'in position 7.In a steam fitting, a body having a thoroughfare, combined with acon1ca1 check valve seating upon the lower part of the thoroughfare toclose it having an u wardly extending stem loosely guided 1n thethoroughfare and a 'conically recessed bottom, and a support for thevalve consisting of a wire secured to the fitting to one side of the.thoroughfare and extending down and under the valve andhaving its freeend turned upward into the recessed under portion of the valve tosupport it at a definite position below and centrally of thethoroughfare valve but permit it to freely adjust itself to ,seat in thethoroughfare when required.

In testlmony of which invention, we hereunto set our hands.

JAMES LOGAN FITTS. JOHN E. G. MONTGOMERY.

Witnesses:

PHILIP Y. QUINN, WM. H. SNYDER.

check valve to v

